Three social emotional learning games in the 2019 Serious Play Awards

The 2019 International Serious Play Award Program cited three games designed for social emotional learning (SEL) in an announcement dated June 18, 2019. Winners were invited to show their games at that summer's Serious Play Conference events, held at the University of Central Florida on July 24 to 26 and at the University of Quebec in Montreal on July 10 to 12, 2019.

The Gold Medal went to Trauma-Informed Practices for K12 Schools, an interactive professional development product that helps educators build skills, confidence and empathy for supporting students whose behavior may stem from trauma or distress. Kognito made it with UNICEF USA and Mental Health America of Greater Houston. The Silver Medal went to The Compassion Project, a game that helps primary school students understand compassion and practice it, developed by The Game Agency with Everfi. The Bronze Medal went to Project Here Games, which gives middle school students short activities for practicing healthy decision-making to prevent substance use. The Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, the GE Foundation, Health Resources in Action and FableVision Studios created it together.

Kognito's product page calls Trauma-Informed Practices for K12 Schools an interactive role-play simulation for PK-12 educators, lists a length of 30 minutes, and says it was developed with UNICEF USA and the Center for School Behavioral Health at Mental Health America of Houston. The page states that the simulation is available online around the clock and offers a self-guided demo. It lists no price.

Everfi's course page describes The Compassion Project as an elementary empathy curriculum in use from 2018 for grades 2 to 6, with six digital lessons and 18 offline lessons of 10 to 30 minutes each, available in English and Spanish and aligned to Common Core English Language Arts and SEL standards. The course is offered free. Project Here is a Massachusetts Attorney General program announced in May 2017 with the GE Foundation, Health Resources in Action, Epicenter Experience and the Herren Project. Its Mass.gov page says public middle schools in the state can register for an online toolkit, Project Here Games and training, all at no cost, and the game's own site, projectheregames.org, is online in English and Spanish.